Miami Hurricanes

Nothing arrogant about saying I want the ACC to give us better competition. Our strength of schedule caused us to drop to #3 in the ITA computer rankings even when we were undefeated. That has been a subject of conversation on the UVa boards quite a bit. GT, UNC, FSU and Miami used to be in contention for the final 16 of the NCAAs, but dropped quite a bit off that ranking level this past year, and it hurt the overall strength of the ACC. Obviously, Duke continues to be a very tough opponent, but intelligent people can understand the difference between saying we want more competition in the ACC vs. we never get any competition in the ACC. Two very different statements.

Click to expand...

Personally I think you have the right to be arrogant after 7 ACC titles, 5 ITA Indoor titles and an NCAA title.

The University of Miami is in the middle of a three-day battle against the NCAA for infractions. The NCAA is trying to save face after severely botching up the investigation into Miami's problems with a booster. The tennis team does not seem to be involved but it will be interesting to see if Miami can put this whole mess behind them.

The Infractions Committee was expected to last three days but things were finished after two days. Most people connected with Miami seem to think that whatever penalties if any, will be dealt out before September 1st. It will be interesting to see if the incompetent and crooked ncaa will try to enforce any more on Miami. If they do, Miami is set to take them to court. Should be interesting.

The ncaa released the Academic Progress Rates last week. With a perfect score of 1000, schools are required to have at least a score of 900 to avoid academic probation.

Congratulations to both the men's and women's teams as they both passed with flying colors. The men finished with a score of 993 (best among men's sports) and the women finished with 948! All of the other sports teams for the University of Miami finished with good marks. Proud of The U!

Greg Garber of ESPN put out a great article on Pro Cane Michael Russell back in 2007. Russell had just reached his career high of #60 on the ATP singles rankings. The article gives us a good idea of what a lot of college players or journeymen go through to play on the Tour.

Russell and doubles partner Giraldo go down to the 12th seeded Dodig/Melo 6-3, 7-6(3), 6-2 in the first round of the men's doubles. Russell's 1st round singles match against #53 Zemlja is probably tomorrow.

Russell's 1st round match is the third match on Court 9 tomorrow. Play starts at 11:30 am. First a ladies' match and then a men's. So that would maybe make a 5 pm start for Russell. London is 5 hours ahead of Miami so Russell may be playing at noon EST.

Rincon and the Hurricanes have seen continued success in his nine years at the school. Since coming to Miami in 2004, the program has reached the NCAA Tournament five of the past seven seasons and advanced to the Sweet 16 twice (2006, 2009). But what sets Rincon apart from other coaches has nothing to do with wins and losses.

ProCane Michael Russell won the Manta Open Ecuador Challenger today. He defeated Australia's Greg Jones 4-6, 6-0, 7-5 to win his first Challenger title this year. According to the tournament article, this is his 13th Challenger title. The article also says that this will move Russell up to #79 in the ATP rankings.

After winning his 14th Challenger title, ProCane Michael Russell moves on to the Hall of Fame Championships in Newport. In the first round, he will play#118 Illya Marchenck of Ukraine. In doubles, Russell is paired up with Dennis Kudla and they go up against the top seeded Gonzalez/Lipsky right off the bat.

Russell won his 1st Rd match at the Hall of Fame Tennis Tournament in Newport. He defeated #118 Illya Marchenko 6-1, 4-6, 6-4. He was leading 6-1, and geting ready to serve for a 4-2 lead when the rains came. When they returned, he lost the next six of seven games and looked to be in trouble but bounced back to take the third. He now faces #163 Alex Kuznetsov in the 2nd Rd. Russell leads the H2H 2-0. This is a great opportunity for Russell to get some ATP points and get his ranking up again.

Russell battled #55 Igor Sijsling for over 2 and a half hours and finally won in three tiebreaks to advance to the semifinals of the Hall of Fame Tennis Tournament in Newport. This is Russell's second ATP semifinal in his 15-year career. The first was last year's Atlanta semis. He will face #127 Nicholas Mahut for a first-ever ATP final berth.

Russell's 2nd career ATP semifinal didn't turn out so great. He had to wait three days before finally getting the match played and it was all Mahut, 6-2, 6-2. Still, Russell will be moving up a few spots in the rankings so that's good news. And he remains only one Challenger title from tying the all-time record.

The Miami Hurricanes just started a Tuesday feature where they put the spotlight on a Canes team that made the NCAA tournament in the past. This may be a long feature since the Canes have been in the tournament 43 times!

ProCane Michael Russell defeated #6 seed Mardy Fish in the first round of the Atlanta Open! Fish won the first set 6-4 and Russell was leading 4-2 in the 2nd when rain stopped play on Tuesday. When they resumed on Wednesday, Russell quickly took the 2nd 6-2 but then Fish grabbed a 2-0 lead in the third. Russell finally caught up at 3-3 and then broke Fish in the 11th game and then served it out to advance to the 2nd round. Russell now faces #88 Santiago Giraldo in the 2nd round today. He is in the doubles draw with Dennis Kudla today as well.

Russell won the 1st set 7-5 vs. Giraldo but dropped the second 6-3 and was trailing 0-3 in the third when he retired because of illness. Not sure what ailed him but he also had to drop out of the doubles 1st rd as well.

The 2013 ITA Summer Championships in Bloomington, Indiana have started. The Canes have three players in the championships this year. William Albanese is unseeded in the men's draw. On the women's side, Kelsey Laurente is seeded 4th and Clementina Riobueno is seeded 6th.

Thanks for the heads up. Good news for us. Looks like a solid 5, maybe with a chance for blue chip. But we are losing 4 seniors after this next year so we are going to need a lot of immediate help if we don't want to fall out of the rankings altogether in a couple of years.

At the ITA Summer Championships, the Canes ended their run yesterday. In the men's singles, albanese lpst in the 1st round of the singles. He did not play in the consolation or doubles tournament. No. 4 seed Laurente and No. 6 seed Riobueno both lost in the 4th round of the singles tournament. They played the doubles tournament together and were seeded 4th, but they were knocked out in the quarterfinals yesterday.

Former Hurricane Michael Russell continues his summer on the ATP tour at the Winston-Salem Open at Wake Forest next week. The 93rd-ranked Russell will play #110 Tim Smyczek in the 1st round of the main draw. The winner will face 7th seed Fernando Verdasco in the second round.

Former Hurricane Michael Russell and former Trojan Steve Johnson are teaming up in the US Open doubles tournament! Their 1st round match has been pushed back to today. The match starts on Court 12 at 11 am! Good luck to Russell and Johnson!

The All-American tournament selections have been announced. There are a few Canes in the qualifying and pre-qualifying tournaments! Starts September 28th.

For the men, Wilfredo Gonzalez, Diego Soto, Omar Aly and William Albanese are on the list for the pre-qualifying tournament. There are no Canes entered in the doubles tournament.

On the women's side, Stephanie Wagner, Kelsey Laurente and Clementina Riobueno are in the qualifying draw. In the doubles, Monique Albuquerque/Clementina Riobueno are in the qualifying draw and Stephanie Wagner/Kelsey Laurente are in the pre-qualifying draw.